The Question of Rebuilding New Orleans

[NCB]

^I've got to agree with that.

[tombarnes]

A horribly pessimistic account from Professor Ivor Van Heerden at LSU. From the BBC...

[NCB]

A horribly pessimistic account

Yea, those are the key words for this article.

[TSmith]

A horribly pessimistic account from Professor Ivor Van Heerden at LSU. From the BBC...

Ok, I found something very odd in that article...

"Areas like the Lower Ninth Ward built 2.4m (8ft) below sea-level - and where hundreds of people died - may not be part of the city's future.

Instead, they could be turned into green spaces, serving both as buffers against future flood waters and as a reminder that nature sometimes should be left alone."

Ok, so you're going to abandon the 9th ward. Fine... but to serve as a buffer? Isn't this just admitting that the levees will break again? This is a defeatist attitude, and I just don't understand it. The 9th ward is behind levee protection. Now, we are planning for it to flood again, instead of planning ways to protect it. Just doesn't make sense to me. And what will it buffer? The 9th ward is separated from the city by the Industrial Canal. So what's it buffering? The canal? Get what I'm saying? I just don't understand that point.